What will be will be
by 31esser
Summary: Artemis, a female with an unknown background appears suddenly before the Strawhats. What happens when another wildcard (or wolf) is added into the usual or not peaceful days of the Strawhat crew? My take on the history and connection of the One Piece world with ours. Rated T for violence and language. OC x Strawhats
1. Prologue

**AN: Woohoo, my first fanfic! Have been wanting to write one for ages but my arch enemies, procrastination and hesitation are persistent. Also, the more I read when I wanted to write, the less I felt motivated as I felt I was reading similar stories to what my ideas of writing were, thus changing the direction of my bunnies so that aren't too alike, the snowball rolled on and on :(.**

**Ahh well, que sera sera. Please tell me what you think of this as I'm writing this on impulse (I had the idea of writing the entire plotline before posting the anything but I realized that my arch enemies would just oppose me again)**

**- Smile despite the circumstances and laugh throughout the pain. Life is full of hardships, Sometimes you suffer but don't ever surrender.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own One Piece as all other fanfic writers. I only own my own interpretation OP, its characters, this story and my OC!**

**Edit: slightly edited to fix some mistakes and organization, content hardly touched.**

**~~~~~~ Enjoy~~~~**

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><p>Lifelessly, a head glanced around, praying for a miracle to happen. As heat emanated from the ground, the unforgiving heat haze shimmered an inch off the ground. The head was sent spinning in suffering.<p>

_Argh... I'm so hungry I'm really gonna die this time..._ The semi-conscious person might not have been exaggerating, her last meal was 2 days ago, if a piece of leftover half-eaten sandwich thrown into the rubbish bin counted a meal. _What happened to the anorexic people who usually throw their hardly touched food into the bins? Stupid slimming pills and the bad economy..._

"Hey kiddo, you hungry?" A gruff voice snapped her out of her daze as the possibility of food caught her full attention. Her dull eyes brightened immediately as she nodded eagerly, looking intently at the man with shaggy long hair that stopped in front of her through weary eyes for signs of money or food in his possession. _There! _A large bulge in one of his trench coat pockets where his hands were stuffed in, showed hopeful promise.

Smirking as he caught intentions of those purposeful eyes, he slowly lifted the guilty hand in his pocket to reveal... A purple fruit the same size as his hand with haphazard swirls all around it. A thought struck her that it was strange, that it was probably poisonous or would cause more harm than good if eaten... _But hey,_ _beggars can't be choosers._

Hunger taking a priority than her imagination and logic, the strange fruit started to looked sweet, juicy and luxurious. Her stomach growled loudly in agreement.

"Would you like to have this?" Her eyes hungrily following it left and right, missing the twinkle in his eyes as he slowly swayed the bait in front of me. A sweet smell caught flowing from it.

She nodded eagerly, her throat drying up from anticipation as tiny streams of saliva started flowing. His grin grew wider, "Then enjoy it with all that you have." He casually tossed it and turned on his heels, walking away as if the exchange never happened.

The hunger driven girl caught it and immediately stuffed it into her mouth without a second thought, barely chewing and finishing the oddly-meat flavoured fruit within seconds. Closing her eyes in relief as her stomach felt a tiny bit of satisfaction mixed with triumph, not as though someone could pry it from her.

Her eyes flew open as she choked, an ugly aftertaste hitting her. Explaining that it tasted like asphalt caked with mud and ginger would be the most courteous way to put it. Her last conscious thought as she clawed at her own throat was: _Dammit, I __should have known something this good wouldn't happen, if I don't get good food in the afterlife, I'm suing someone._

**_~To be Continued~_**

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><p><strong>How was it? C'mon don't be shy and review~<strong>

**Pretty please?**


	2. Good food found

**AN: Lalala~ I'm lazy so... **

**"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." -Albert Einstein**

**Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.**

**Enjoy!~**

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><p>"Hey Sanji! I found a big piece of meat! Hurry up and cook it! I'm hungry!" Luffy's voice can be heard over the entire ship as he jumped onto the ship with a sackcloth bag bigger than himself. Throwing it on the deck with a loud thump, he stood with his hands on his hips, glad that he found a large piece of food just minutes after he left.<p>

"As expected of my subordinate, you found it as according my orders so quickly eh!" Ussop and Chopper emerged from Ussop's workshop, smoking and covered in dirt after another day of failed experimentations. Nami looked up form sunbathing on the beach chair, "I hope you didn't catch something weird this time again".

"Ara, I'm sure cook-san would be able to make something out of it as long as it's something inorganic like the last time." Robin smiled as she looked at the sack Luffy left on the deck. Sanji loosened the drawstring "Let's see what you got... Hmmm it's a large wolf, I could make ste..." Mid-sentence, Chopper interupted with a scream of realization, "IT'S STILL ALIVE! DON'T COOK IT!" whacking both Luffy's and Sanji's heads with a huge hammer that appeared from nowhere.

"Ehh? But I found it lying on the seashore in that condition already, can't we just eat it?" Luffy frowned. "Don't just pick up any random dying animals back as food!" Nami smashed her fist down on his already bruised head.

Chopper leaned down to inspect the large wolf, noting its shallow breathing and weak pulse, "She probably fainted from exhaustion and starvation.." He declared aloud as he transformed into Heavy Point, picking up the limp body and carrying the patient into the infirmary.

_**~To be Continued~**_

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><p><strong>AN: I always wondered why Chopper usually asks someone to bring the patients into the infirmary instead of doing it himself... Doesn't he have Heavy Point?<strong>

**Also, please post any comments/suggestions regarding the story! As I mentioned, the entire plotline isn't out yet so I'm writing the details according to my mood now :P**


	3. Food finding food

**AN: Woohoo! One of my favourite parts to write! It might get a little longer than usual though~ Anyway, I haven't planned for romance in this fic though it might change or maybe not. Depending on how it goes and the reviews for the pairings.**

_**Without respect, love is lost. Without caring, love is boring. Without honesty, love is unhappy. Without trust, love is unstable. - Unknown**_

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><p>"Wouldn't the monster wolf eat us when it wakes up? It would be better to just leave it as it is" said a voice behind Chopper as he listened to the faint heartbeat of the large body lying on the operating table with his stethoscope. "As a doctor, there is no way I would leave a dying person or animal alone."<p>

He wrote down several notes on his clipboard and tried to calm the fearful figure crouched behind his shoulder, "Don't worry Ussop, I'll talk to her when she wakes up. I'm sure we can all get along."

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><p><em>Hmmm.. cheese burger, beef steak, cotton candy, venison stew... Yum..<em> Salivating as her dreams took a nutritious turn from the dark unawareness, she smelt something delicious nearby. Opening one of her eyelids, she saw a ridiculous brown dwarf with a blue nose, pink hat and antlers sprouting from it, looking intently at her on a swivel chair.

She blinked in surprise, coughing out a laugh but stopping immediately as a bark came out of her throat instead. _What was that sound?_ Panicking, she tried to feel her throat, only to notice a black nose in front of her vision, connected to a white hairy snout, instead of her usual definitely-not-pure-white coloured nose.

She looked down further and yowled, seeing large furry paws with sharp claws as she tried to move her hands, _paws_. She tried to move her extremities normally and the muscles akin to wiggling her fingers, only to see the toes attached to each paw wiggling a little as well.

"Hey are you all right?" A voice cut through her forced composure before all hell broke loose within her. "Yeah, whazzap?" She whined at the bark that came out from her mouth when she spoke. _Dang, this dream is getting too realistic..._

She closed her eyes slowly, trying to will what she thought she saw in front of her and what she had become away. Trying to convince herself that it was all probably a dream. Now what was she doing before she fell asleep...?

It finally hit her that something wasn't right, that dreams usually give you a more detached or blurred feeling, false sense of security or keep you right on your toes with ridiculous scenarios. This on the other hand, allowed her senses work too well and question the reality too much. The clear definition of the weird creature in front of her and the fur she can see on herself seemed to be clear evidence.

"Are you alright? You've been out for a day." Two soft touches held her and shook her gently. _A day? What happened? Wait, why was there a reindeer-smelling dwarf in front of her in the first place?_

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><p>"AHHH! I DIED?!" She urgently pushed her hands to get to her feet, only to hit her head on a hard wooden surface and fall down on all fours. "Ouch!" She shook her head, rubbing the side of it with her right hand, as she tried to reach the top of her head. She couldn't. No matter how hard she stretched her hand, it couldn't go past her eye level. <em>This is ridiculous, did I shrink or something?<em>

Her thoughts were interrupted as the reindeer dwarf spoke "Ah calm down! You're safe now. You fainted from exhaustion and malnutrition and was found by our captain."

_Argh, I probably died and resurrected in another world ... or this is a really pathetic and elaborate dream my imagination made up_. She sighed and decided to go with the flow for now. Opening her eyes, she sniffed experimentally as she looked around the room she was in, cringing at the smell of disinfectant and a salty tang that invaded her nose.

_Hmmm I wonder if it can understand me since I could understand it for some reason. _"Hey, can you understand me?" She tried 'speaking'.

"Yeah, I'm Chopper, nice to meet you!" The weird creature grinned and walked over, holding out a tiny hoof.

"Oops, I guess we can't shake hands." It looked down at her paws with a blush.

"Sorry, I'm too used to interacting with humans." He blushed as the outstretched hoof moved to the back of his head, rubbing it.

She sniffed at him curiously, then salivating, intuitively opened her jaws and clamped them over the body in front of her, the tiny piece of meat fitted perfectly in her mouth.

**_~To be Continued~_**


	4. Doubts and Questions

AN: I wonder if romance should be in this... Hmmmm~ One of the possible candidates would probably be Chopper, since they are both animals? Or _someon__**e**_** who will accept her for who she is.. Anyway, here's a longer chapter! Woo!**

**Disclaimer: I do own o****ne piece... of the bread in my fridge. One Piece is obviously by ****Eiichiro Oda~**

**Man do I like the new Punk Hazzard arc... Looking forward to how the crew members have improved their tactics ! **

Humanity returning to me, I noticed my actions and hurriedly spit him out back on the chair. "Oops, sorry about that, my body took over by a weird... _instinct_."

He cringed away in tears, "I'm not food!"

"Uhh, sorry, it's just that you smelt delicious and suddenly..." I breathed in his scent, feeling the sweetness of cotton candy and cleanliness of medical supplies.. I stopped mentally before the urge to do something ridiculous again resurfaced. _Wait, a weird creature is talking to me and I'm actually having a conversation with it! Oh well, I became another creature anyway... Guess it's not surprising that animals don't need schools learn communication with each other huh._

"Never mind, you can call me Artemis, Chopper." I licked the side of his face in apology automatically. _Oops._ Realizing my mistake again, I shut my mouth tightly and placed my head on my paws, looking at him apologetically.

"Heheheh don't worry about it. You idiot, even if you lick me I won't be pleased by it!" Chopper blushed and placed its front hooves together and stood on its hind legs, twisting his body left and right.

"Hahahaha! You're funny. What type of creature are you? A mysterious dwarf reindeer with a blue nose?" I barked in laughter at his amusing way of displaying his emotions.

"How rude! I'm a reindeer, I ate a the Human Human devil fruit and could transform into other physical shapes, this is Brain Point, which I find most comfortable to be in casually."

"A devil fruit? What other shapes can you transform into anyway?" Mentally putting a devil fruit as a type of shape-shifting medical drug.

"Well, I have my current one, Brain Point, then Walk Point." He jumped onto the floor and transformed, going on all fours. "Huh, your pants and hat also extends with your transformation shapes... What an interesting ability to have."

"Lastly... HEAVY POINT!" He roared and his large face right in front of mine. I jerked backwards automatically in surprise. "Hey!" He turned into a large muscled.. Gorrila-like human with a short furry mane, forming a circle around his shoulders and covering his neck. Surprisingly, his hat also enlarged with his size somehow, his antlers shrunk, replaced by human ears.

I head butted him in mock anger. "Sorry, I always wanted to try that on someone." He grinned sheepishly. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he remembered something, "Wait, How come you don't know about devil fruits when you're in the Grand Line?"

"Grand Line? Well, I don't know how I got here in the first place, or how I even became _this _in the first place," I looked down at myself "I was just happily eating a strange fruit I got from a stranger and... " The two things clicked together in my mind "AHH! THAT STUPID MAN GAVE ME A DEVIL FRUIT?". _What the heck. Just my luck to get some weird drug as my last meal before I died. _I snapped my jaws together angrily.

_Or am I still dreaming? If so, someone please wake me up from this weird dream! Wait, maybe it isn't that bad after all, from the looks of things, it can't get worse than __**that**__ life I had previously. I also got a talking, shape-shifting reindeer as a companion!_ I smiled wryly, an excited gleam shone from my eager eyes for adventure.

__**~ Narrator **

Chopper looked at the large wolf lying on the bed, shouting, snapping her jaws together, pondering then letting an evil gleam entering her eyes, "You were saying something about dying in the first place...?" He started cautiously, fearing to earn her wrath, intimated from the quick change of emotions and that hint of intentions he saw.

"Well, I still don't know if I'm still dreaming or anything, but I wasn't originally.. Whatever I am now." Artemis sighed, letting out a lungful of breath.

"What do you mean what are you?" Chopper stared at Artemis in astonishment. "If you mean physical descriptions, you're a kind of large wolf I haven't seen before. I was hoping you would tell me more about your kind as I have never known of your species..." Muttering some speculations about the possible types of wolves depending on the climate of the island they found her from. "Did you lose your memory or something?" A dozen or more diagnosis regarding Artemis ran through his head as he examined their conversations and continued to speak to himself.

"Wait, you're trying to ask and answer too many questions at a time! Let me eat something first! I'm famished. As I was saying, I was originally just a teenage girl, the last thing I remembered was being fed a strange swirly fruit by some stupid man then choking on it and dying... I think?" The questions he asked and mentioned under his breath had sprouted and multiplied, flooding her mind. _Argh, I can feel a headache coming from the torrent of queries questioning the reality all around and about me. Forget it for now, food takes precedence above all else! _She started to get up from the bed.

The door swung open. "Hey Chopper! I brought some food over! Is she awake yet?" A masculine voice overlapped with her last sentence as she was speaking and came into the room just as it finished.

Sanji froze, _she was originally a teenage girl, a woman_,_ a female human of teenage years!_ His imagination ran wild as he tried to picture the figure in front of him in the body of a teenage girl... Oo_h, what a amazing body she would have! A large, well endowed body with silky ebony hair and silver highlights... Ah, those intense eyes. She must be a striking beauty.. _A fountain of blood erupted from the falling figure of Sanji. The tray of food was dropped without a care, as his body headed towards the floor.

"AHH!" cried Chopper as he dived for the tray of food, hooves outstretched. He gave a sigh of relief as most of the objects on it miraculously remained on it. His attention returned to Sanji as some cutlery he missed fell to the floor. Leaving the tray of food on the floor. "Hey Sanji? What on earth happened to you to cause nose bleeding again?" Chopper hurried over to stop his bleeding.

**[A/N this is set before the 2 years of separation, when exactly, you'll find out soon enough :)]**

**~ APOV:**

My eyes narrowed as I looked the intruder up and down, trying to decide if he is a threat, tensed to react if he tried to attack. The next moment, a wealth of blood suddenly sprouted from his nose as his body comically flew backwards from the force of the nosebleed.

It was so unexpected that I yelped, flinging my body backwards, against the wooden wall behind me, probably bruising my back. _What kind of weird nosebleed was that? People usually do NOT get thrown back from the force of nosebleeds, only those in those in comics and cartoons do that. Normal ones are docile and just leak from the source. Man this guy's body has a big issue against him._

I tried to get down the bed slowly, trying to get used to moving around on all fours. The bed felt softer than it looked, my paws sinking into the mattress, _or maybe it was because of my new weight? _

My hands, _paws? _I sighed._ For convenience and sanity's sake I shall stick to referring to my limbs as hands and legs, _reached the floor and I carefully tested my hold and overall balance. _Woah, having pads on your hands feels kinda cool, I could actually feel the wood grains and a soft warmness from the floor. _

"Is he okay?" I asked Chopper, nudging the twitching body on the floor with my nose. "Wo- woman..." Murmured the body in front of me. I decided that he probably has gynophobia, just _thinking _about women caused him a serious nosebleed? _Poor guy._

[AN: Here's some trivia knowledge; Gynophobia – fear of women and Caligynephobia – fear of beautiful women] 


	5. The ball starts rolling

**AN: I'm so soo soooo sorry for the lateness of this chapter! Needless to say, the main culprits for holding me back were the (kinda) busy schedule, procrastination and some laziness... :X  
><strong>  
><strong>Just watched a behind the scenes making of One Piece, and boy was I surprised to see that Luffy's voice actor was a short woman! O.o! And Franky's voice actor actually looked like how Franky would if he was in our world! It was also extremely entertaining to see the cast's voice actors going back and forth with rowdy voices while Robin stayed there and delivered her lines calmly! It was like seeing the Straw Hats right in the studio! Ahh, now when I watch OP, I think of the voice actors in the studio...~<strong>

**Woops this AN's getting kinda long, well then, let's move on to the story! Enjoy!**

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><p>"Oh well, Chopper, you take care of him while I get some food." Artemis left the cigarette-and-seafood smelling body on the floor and headed towards the door.<p>

"Okay, just turn right after you go out and it's just around the corner. There should still be someone eating lunch at this hour."

The body on the floor suddenly twitched and rose to its feet gracefully. "No, my princess, do not trouble yourself. Your humble servant here will gladly prepare and serve you some delicacies." He wiped his bleeding nose gracefully with a handkerchief from his breast pocket and straightened himself.

"This way please, m'lady." Sanji opened the door and bowed as he held it. Artemis blinked in surprise at his sudden recovery and treatment.

"Ah, Artemis could you follow Sanji to the kitchen for some food first? I'll pack up then bring my own share over and catch up with you guys later." Chopper turned to keep his equipment, already used to Sanji's sudden outbursts and self-recovery for such situations.

_Huh, a_ _gynophobic gentleman_. Artemis nodded to Chopper, stepping through the doorway and followed Sanji's lead. "Artemis, what a lovely name. Would you like a guided tour of the ship after your meal, dear princess?" She nodded, she would have blushed if she could, stunned at the kind treatment this stranger was giving her.

He opened another door to the right, "Please, take a seat while I prepare your meal, I'll be sure to cook up a nutritious storm for your poor unnourished body to make up for the two days of unconsciousness!" With that, he went behind the counter and started picking out numerous ingredients with his left hand and preparing with his right with a ridiculously fast speed.

As Artemis stood in the doorway, blinking in surprise at the sudden transformation as the flirtatious ladies man turned into a serious no-nonsense cook she heard another voice calling her from the kitchen.

"Hello, Miss Wolf, I see that you are awake now, would you like a cup of tea?"

"Ah, it might be a little difficult with your anatomy though, what about some bread while Mr Cook prepares your meal instead?" A lady in short purple revealing dress with a long black trench coat on a stool sat, smiling at her.

Her polite and calm demeanour made her take a liking to Robin instantly. Artemis grinned and walked over, examining her closer. "My name is Robin, by the way" She held out a hand.

Not knowing what to do in a wolf body, Artemis sniffed the outstretched hand, her gentle and strangely familiar floral scent wafted into her nostrils. She inwardly memorized each scent to their respective owners abroad the ship as she pressed her nose into the soft extended hand and breathed out slowly, relaxing.

The hand moved to the side of the large jaw to scratch the area under the chin, Artemis thumped her tail against the floor at the unexpected pleasure, closing her eyes and leaning into the touch. She barked softly in thanks as the scratch ended.

"You're welcome, Miss Wolf." Robin smiled as she handed a piece of bread to her.

She instinctively bit then wolfed the bread down in a bite, swallowing it whole and hardly tasting it. _Oh yeah, wolves hardly chew their food. Ah-ah, I'm going to miss chewing and flavouring food. Perhaps Sanji could prepare stronger tasting food so I could still taste some of them._

Artemis looked at the table for any other food to devour, disappointed to only see jam, a cup and a pot of tea were left. Well, at least she didn't need a chair with this table, it was only at the height of her chest, making it easy to eat from the table directly.

"Hai~ Sweet Miss Artemis, please partake of these humble dishes your humble servant has prepared in hopes of suiting your tastes!" Sanji filled the table full of steaming dishes, glowing silently. Artemis stared at the transformed table in shock, a bare table was suddenly changed into one of a great feast.

_Woohoo! Oh wait, how am I going to eat when I don't have hands! _She frowned at the food. "Don't worry, I specially prepared these food so that you can eat them easily!" He pointed to a plate of steaming golden buns on the table.

"For example, these bread contain my special beef burgundy with bacon, and the belly fat of a sea cow we caught recently. Just bite onto it and the savoury soup will explode in your mouth! Since you can't use utensils, I made all food bite sized and shaped just for you~"

Artemis grinned gratefully at him. Sanji's demeanour lowered slightly and bowed embarrassedly "Of course, it would be my pleasure to personally feed you Miss Artemis..." But his words fell on deaf ears as the starving wolf was already digging in, snapping up the dishes with lightning speed.

"Ah, of course, how could my unworthy hands possibly have the slightest chance of personally serving a goddess..." Sanji closed his eyes and turned away with a dramatical sigh, muttering to himself as he busied himself in the kitchen.

Robin, who has been watching the scene play out silently, supported her cheek with her hand, smiling as she observed Artemis. Chopper entered with his own tray of food, greeting them and sat beside Robin, "Wow, she's really hungry, do you think Jabra* died and she ate the reborn Wolf Devil Fruit?"

"Upon closer inspection.. She doesn't look like a grey wolf, which I originally thought she was... She's larger in size and carnassials* yet has shorter and thicker legs than grey wolves."

She wondered idly, "A much older species, perhaps an ancient Zoan type, but definitely a Canis Lupus* species. I'll try and see if there are any clues about ancient wolf species in my collection, I might need your books as well, Chopper."

"Sure, I'll search my books as well." Chopper agreed with her findings and decision, excited to find out more about an ancient and possibly extinct species with a subject right before his eyes "Artemis, could I collect some data or information from you from time to time to find out more about your species?"

"As long as it doesn't take too long or involve needles, yeah sure." Artemis mumbled as she finished the last of her share on the table and eyed Chopper's tray greedily "Do you want your share? You aren't touching it much..."

Chopper shook his head and pushed said tray over to her gently, watching attentively as she cleaned off his plate.

"Looks like Nami's gonna be depressed over our food budget again."

"Help me thank Sanji for the amazing food! Ahhhh, I feel alive again~" The implied subject obliviously stretched out her limbs with a huge yawn and laid down to rest.

_**~ To be continued ~**_

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><p><strong>AN: Really, you guys should watch the voice actors in action.. Ah, the funny faces they make.. :P<strong>

**Also.. Ussop's voice isn't that different from the voice actor's! Just a little more exaggerated. XD**

***Jabra **– Many of you probably don't remember him but he's the one who fought Sanji during CP9 arc with long braided hair and ate the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Wolf.

*******Canis Lupus** - basically means the wolf family species. ***Carnassials **– large teeth most carnivorous mammals have for tearing flesh (crucial for them to hunt, carnivores with broken carnassials have a much lower chance of survival and may die as an indirect result)

**Lastly, many thanks to those who added the story to their favourites and alerts! (Sorry and please tell me if I left out your name). It really encourages and reminds me to stop procrastinating and continue the story more diligently!**

_Shinigami-Chan17_  
><em>OkamiNeko-chan<em>  
><em>Sayonara Yasashii Akumu<em>  
><em>Loki The Evil Goddess<em>


	6. Waking up

**AN: Woops, I forgot to include what burgundy actually was. For those who don't know, it's a famous red wine from France (also the name of the country which it came from). I just randomly searched up French cuisine since Sanji likes them so much, I figured he would cook something familiar to him and show off to the new 'girl'.**

**I've been deliberating if Artemis should have the ability to communicate with other humans, since Chopper gained the ability after he ate the Human Fruit and so do other devil fruit users. But she IS special after all... So nope! Only Chopper and other animals understand her for now. (Assume that Chopper translated last chapter okay?)**

**PS: sorry this should have been up long time ago, but my com crashed and half of this... disappeared D: I'll try to rewrite and get it up ASAP**

**Disclaimer: Once again, I obviously don't own One Piece since it was serialized when I was still a baby. Unless Eiichiro Oda is some distantly related uncle of mine and handed the rights to me in the future of course.**

**Non-One Piece characters that can't be found in the official manga/anime are therefore obvious fruits of my creation.**

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><p>A warm feeling and tenderness fills the air. Comforting and relaxing, a breath of air was released from a child.<p>

Heavy eyelids struggled to lift themselves up as drowsiness fought against awareness as a small sound aroused her. "Hmmm?"

"Arty dear, come over and have a cup of tea with me." A gentle voice drifted to her, catching her attention.

Something nagged at the back of her mind but she couldn't vividly remember it... She dragged her body to the speaker.

"Grandma, I think I just met someone that feels and talks like you."

"Well, maybe it's me from another world then. With a similar soul perhaps." She chuckled softly to herself at an inner joke.

"She has the same scent and calming presence as you... It feels as though I can always feel peaceful and fall asleep at her side no matter what happens." Artemis closed her eyes, recalling the feeling.

The familiar and comforting scent, the muskiness of wisdom and age, much like wood of the books on the bookshelf her grandma always liked to read from.

The relaxing scent that was endearing to her had her 'friends' constantly teasing her, calling it an 'old', 'stinky' _smell_, they refused to play with her until she got rid of the smell of 'dead bones'.

=========== On the other hand... ==============

"Ah, my poor princess must be starving to have cleared all those dishes in mere minutes. I must prepare a more satisfying diet... What would a member of the wolf species like best?" A certain lovestruck cook sighed in dilemma while his hands continued their routine, moving in a blur.

"Meat of course! And what better way to serve it than medium rare! Tender juicy flesh that is wonderfully and tastefully served closest to it's original form in nature!" Humming can be heard from the kitchen, along with lyrics made on the spot over-layered with honey.

Robin smiled while taking measurements of a certain large sized wolf asleep on the floor, it never ceased to amaze her how quickly the cook could flirt, adore and pamper each lady he sets his eyes on. Even if they did not treat him with respect, he remained gentlemanly at all times.

"Here, my lovely distressed lady, seven servings of medium rare steak just for you!" The speaker waltzed to the dinning table while balancing the plates on his arms only to find the subject peacefully dozing on the ground.

"Awww! My lady looks absolutely adorable even when she is asleep!~"

"I would agree."

Sanji was about to agree when he was interrupted mid-sentence. "Sssh! Keep it down in case you wake her, she just recovered from dehydration, malnutrition and is in a weak condition!" The doctor chided the man professionally.

"Anything for my darling~" He placed the plates on the table from his occupied without spilling anything miraculously and spun on his heels back to the kitchen, busying himself.

As the sweet aroma of the new dishes filled the room, a nose twitched increasingly as it detected food in the vicinity. A growl started from the connecting throat, growing in volume.

"Artemis? Are you alright?" Two concerned figures peered at the form on the floor that was suddenly performing weird movements; jerking and snapping her jaws, her eyes still closed.

_**~ To be continued ~**_

**AN: Da dum! Any thoughts/feelings on how the story is so far? I still can't decide on a set path for it yet.. So I'm making it up as I go along as and when inspiration hits me :P. Unexpectedly, this chapter's idea came to me while I was hanging clothes to dry. Amazing where and how inspiration hits you eh?** **  
>Also, in case you haven't noticed, 'Miss' and 'Mister' are supposed to replace the '-san' suffix in Japanese. However, the degree of implied formality is obviously different in the two languages thus 'Miss', 'Mister' and 'Master' (for -sama) will only be used for formal addressing in the ENGLISH context.<strong>

Many thanks to the following favourites/subscribers!

_Neko249_

_NarutoGal8_

_Hitsugaya Aiko_

_Terfa_

_kodokuna 13_


	7. Mirror

**AN: I'm so sorry about the constant change in the formatting and style.. It really depends on how the story flows... (/my mood... *cough cough*) and other factors...**

**Disclaimer: (Refer to previous chapters)**

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><p>"Where's our lunch huh? Weren't you going to get it for us?" A voice rang from her right.<p>

"Yeah! Where's your gratitude for us hanging out with you and being your good friends?" Another spoke out while several others can be heard snickering.

A rowdy group of brawny kids loosely surrounded a small figure against a corner, not that they had any intention to release their prey.

_Isn't that someone from our class...? I don't really know him though._ Artemis squinted through the body and legs of the crowd around the shaking form, from which several noises of sniffing could be heard. She stood where she was, wondering if she do something about the situation in front of her. One of the large kids who held the boy by his shirt against the wall, lifting him off his feet. _Perhaps he would be my friend if I rescued him or something... _She stood rooted to the spot.

She didn't have the time to decide as one of the goons had noticed her prolonged staring, "Hey! Whatcha looking at eh? Wanna play _hero_ and save this _poor kid _over here?"

_Here goes nothing_. She took a deep breath, _good people always win in stories, right? _She pushed away the seed of growing anxiety unsuccessfully. "You wouldn't like it if someone bigger and older treated you like what you did to the kid right?" As the older boy sneered at her without replying, she tried to fill her awkwardness, "Err, go pick on someone your own size..."

Dark eyes narrowed at her. "And age... " her voice trailed as her uneasiness grew. _O..kaay, that didn't go as well as I hoped for, not like I had a plan in the first place. _"Well, why don't you replace the little guy then?" Hands that were terrorizing the victim threw him forward roughly, then slowly walked past the falling body, the crowd naturally gave way for him. _That's the leader then, oh man._

The fallen figure quickly scrambled away once freed, barely casting a glance at his _savior _mutely as expected by the bullies, who were looking on with interest to how their leader would handle the _new_ victim_. _As she looked at the fleeing figure, an unknown emotion dropped to her stomach.

_Oh man... _She thought again as large palms gripped her shoulders powerfully.

"RAAWRRRRHHHHHHHH!" The body that was asleep on the floor moments ago jolted upright, taking an open stance and baring its fangs openly. Its eyelids flared open, her previously golden eyes had turned into a piercing and violent violet.

Fur stood straight on their ends as the enraged wolf snapped its head left and right, registering its surroundings. Robin turned to Chopper, "What is she so agitated about?"

"Uhh... S-she's shouting something like 'betrayal' and... Ehhh... Expressing her anger." Chopper stuttered, backing away slowly to not catch the attention of the large angry wolf that once swallowed him. As expected, the wolf _is_ scary! Even if she is, or was, supposed to be his patient! She already tried to eat him once!

"Betrayed? I'll kick the ass of the shitty idiot who dared betray my lady upside down!" Sanji roared in indignation, unfazed by the sudden change in demeanor.

Robin glanced at the second agitated being. _Hmmm, he still considers a large raging wolf whom he heard was a female teen as a lady. I wonder how severe his female amorosity is._

Meanwhile, the large wolf they took their attention off tore through the door and sped out of the dinning room. "T-the door could be opened..." Chopper squeaked belatedly.

The wolf blindly rampaged through the corridors, oblivious to the resulting damage.

"Hey, what's the ruckus abou-" A certain sharpshooter opened the door only to see a life-threatening scene approach. He slammed the door(and his mouth) shut, locked it, stacked as many bulking items behind and hid in a corner. Murmurs of "This is a dream, it is an illusion... I think I'm suffering from the Imagining-too-much-death-threats disease..." could be heard if one listened very closely outside.

A blur of silver and black crashed through the final barrier to the open deck on the ship, pieces of splintered wood flew outwards.

The temperamental creature finally stopped running. Instead, it sat in a stance and howled, loud and long.

Luffy, who was fishing on the railing of the deck for more food, turned his attention to the new arrival and its incomprehensible song. His eyes turned into shinning stars and his jaw hung open, "COOOOOL!~" He sat unmoving and eyes gleaming, entranced by the wild melody.

As it ended, the black-silver being finally noticed the presence of an audience and once again raised its hackles and bristled its pelt, letting out a loud growl.

Luffy grinned nonchalantly and waved.

_**~ To be continued ~**_

**AN: I really hope I can finish this fic.. But it's really hard as I keep having ideas for the body part of it and not how to connect the start to it _... I already have some middle chapters written but I need to bridge them somehow! Plus school work and other commitments doesn't exactly help :/**

**Please share your thoughts on the fic! It would be greatly appreciated!**

Once again, many thanks to the following favourites/subscribers!

Evangeline43


	8. In the Open

**AN: The chapters will be edited after the story's completed. Feel free to msg/comment on any plot holes/grammar errors or hiccups the story has!**

**Disclaimer: (Refer to previous chapters)**

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><p>A slim girl laid against the wall, breathing weakly with ragged breaths. She had been utterly dominated in the fight- no, beating up she received. She tried with all her strength to fight back, but was suppressed by the vice-like grip the larger boy had on her. She had struggled and headbutted him in the chin, smirking as the boy recoiled from pain. Her victory was short lived as the attack only served to anger the boy, turning slowly to face her, his eyes narrowed.<p>

Her vision shrank and became tinted with grey as half of her right eye swelled and her body sagged with heaviness. It hurt in so many places that she couldn't feel any part that wasn't injured directly or indirectly by the punches, kicks and slams against the walls. She couldn't breathe through her nose, it was clogged with blood and hurt whenever she tried, in fact, her lungs hurt whenever she tried taking a breath.

She simply blacked out for an indefinite amount of time, remembering minimally of the different pairs of shoes and cars that passed in front of her each time she barely lifted her eyelids.

Finally, she slowly sat up, supporting her weight slowly with the bags of rubbish piled around her. With a despondent heart, picked her body up and prepared to head to grandma's. Looking around and patting her pockets habitually to check her belongings, she cursed despairingly as she found out that even her transport money was taken away.

She was empty handed except for her old barely functioning phone, which battery was conveniently flat, it was probably too outdated to take from her. Who knew having an outdated phone was a good thing? She laughed bitterly at her demise, only to stop and press her hand against her chest as her motion incurred even greater pain.

She trudged home, slowly.

Even her favourite iced tea couldn't lift her mood as grandma rubbed oil on her bruises firmly, insisting that if she didn't use force, the medicated substance wouldn't take effect. Her mind went into a blank state eventually with the repetitive _massage_ on her body. She couldn't even tell what she was thinking or trying to think about, only discern an undercurrent thread of thought that said something along the lines of 'Why' and 'What went wrong' with a weight on her mind.

She had retold the situation to her grandma but was shocked by her answer "It just meant you weren't strong enough." She refused to elaborate further and simply moved on to treat her wounds.

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><p>Luffy stretched his arm across the deck to pat her head in greeting. Seeing an unusual event of a stretching appendage occur, the wolf narrowed its eyes and analyzed the potential danger, chomping down on the approaching limb.<p>

Luffy's wide smile grew strained, "HEEEYY! THAT HURTS!" His teeth turned into fangs as he shouted.

It lifted its furry head from the bitterly foul-tasting and tough meat-being in front of him, spitting the hand away. It stopped, sniffing the air and reacting to something, swiftly leaped onto the deck of the upper floor then onto the railings, the figurehead and with a great spring, landed at the crow's nest.

"GET DOWN HERE YOU STUPID WOLF!" A skinny kid clad in vest and shorts shouted angrily. At the very same moment, an orange haired female ran out onto the deck, "Everyone hands on deck! A huge storm is approaching!" and began giving directions. Just then, as the navigator saw that Luffy wasn't moving according to the given instructions, she gave him a huge bump on his head with a scowl.

"JUST YOU WAIT! DON'T MOVE FROM THAT SPOT!" Grumbling, he went to prepare for the storm as told, giving the evil eye towards the figure staring outwards on the crow's nest. Said figure stared intently at the surrounding waters, it's nose twitched as it stood immobile with an unreadable expression on its face.

_**~ To be continued ~**_


	9. Storm

**AN: Ahh I want to hurry the plot along so I can get the the main juicy bits. Yet I like to linger at some bits.. Alas, the war between motivation, laziness and willingness! For this is human!**

**Disclaimer: If OP was owned by me, it would never have regularly been updated. Like seriously. Unless I was a full time manga artist earning thousands already of course.**

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><p>A large figure stood calmly, gazing at the sea, watching as storm clouds gathered together and approached. Their warning came in the growing agitation of the waters as they started to bash against the vessel.<p>

It grinned, lips curling at the anticipation of what is to come.

_It won't be long now... I'm sure. For I am with her..._Torrents of thoughts ran through its mind.

A loud rumbling from the skies can be heard as strong gusts of wind buffeted the sails. A being in the crow's nest howled it's exhilaration, the voice lost immediately against the deafening howl of the winds.

It gripped the wooden boards and stiffened its body in preparation against the onslaught of the storm, closing it's eyes and lifting it's head against the haphazard pelting of the rain. _It feels like home..._

It opened its eyes and looked down, seeing humans scurrying about below. "Chopper! I'm leaving the helm to you! Zoro and Sanji! Get the sails!" They worked seamlessly, obeying the commands of a orange haired woman standing in the center of the deck. Well_, they don't seem like a bad bunch, I guess it's alright then._

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><p>She opened her eyes to see the endings of a storm. Light drops fell around her, giving the surroundings a silvery texture.<p>

_Huh? What was I doing?_ She wondered as she slowly opened her eyes.

She turned her head from left to right, seeing only a dull horizon with dark clouds covering it, bodies of choppy waters lead from the vicinity to the storms. A droplet fell sharply on her nose, distracting her vision. She turned and crossed her eyes, looking at her nose.

_My nose... It's b-black... Oh God, I must have starved and started __hallucinating things again._ She began to close her eyes in the comfortable temperature when they snapped open. _Wait, since when was my nose that far __out? Or connected to a bridge of fur for that matter and since when did I have a snout!_

"Hold on guys! Here comes the smaller storm! It will be over soon. Just wait it out! Robin! Give me some extra hands to hold it down here!" A firm voice can be heard from somewhere below.

She didn't have time to think about the source.

Just then, a large wave hit the side of the ship, tilting it thirty degrees upwards. Artemis instinctively tightened her claws and dug into the wood. Only to lose against the gravity created and slam into the railing of the crow nest.

Oufh! Through blurred eyes, the distance from the water bodies behind the railing she knocked into fell further away as the sway of the boat peaked. _Argghhhh, everything in my stomach is gonna escape!_

Nausea washed over her as sharp needles rained on her pelt, patting the long fur against her body immediately. She held on with her jaw open, panting and heaving, as she struggled for control over her stomach's contents.

The overwhelming force reversed and threw her against the other side of the crow nest. _What the heck is happenin__g...!_

She closed her eyes and laid her body flat against the floor, enduring the storm praying for its end.

_Haah, haah... She panted and coughed, It's finally over..._ Her mouth tasted sour and vile. _I bet my stomach juices also got sucked away by the freak storm..._

"Alright, it's finally over. Is everyone alive? Any damage to the ship?_"_

"This brave warrior of the sea has survived thousands of storms worse than these! He's just.. gonna.. take.. a little... break, now" A wheezing voice followed.

"Phew, hahaha that small storm towards the end was fun! Though I thought I was gonna die in the big one! Sheesheesheshheessh!" An annoyingly loud voice assaulted my ears. _Argh, those voices sound and smells are too familiar. __It's like a continuation of that dream where I became a wolf and met a talking blue-nosed reindeer on a ship..._

She looked down and saw two white furry paws. She groaned. _It's still happening. I guess I got kidnapped or something, but those people don't seem like it._

Something twisted in her stomach, a sour feeling twisted in her gut, threatening to exit her body.

_Ergghhhh everything's whirling around. Whatever, my brain and body feels like shit and ain't cooperating. _She laid down carefully, keeping still in hopes that the horrible sensations would cease.

Several sounds of large bubbles popping could be heard, followed by loud snores, presumably from the rest of the crew.

_Doesn't this stupid bunch of people get tired? How much energy do they still have after an ordeal like that! _Artemis stubbornly kept her eyelids shut against the noise.

"Nami-swaaann! Please take a rest while I'll take over the wheel for now, I'll call you if anything happens~"

"Thank you, Sanji. Just maintain the current course and call me when we if anything happens at all. I'll go take a quick nap in the quarters. Then take the next shift"

"Anything for you, my love!"

_Finally some peace and quiet. _The weary wolf left out a long sigh and dozed.

**~ To be continued ~**

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><p><strong>Thanks for subscribingfavouriting, Tachi Tsuki un and Hershey gurl!**

**Hehehheh I wonder who can guess which arc the story is at now before the next chapter! The members that appeared already tells the progress~**

**Clue: It's at quite a peaceful lapse between two arcs!**


	10. Crew Interaction

**Chp 10 – What will be will be**

**'Holy crap I thought I posted this LONG AGO! I bet you guys thought it was on hiatus or dropped... But it was only uploaded and not published! m(._.)m I'm soo sorry and amused at my clumsiness! The next chapter is currently being edited before the upload. So kindly look forward to it!'**

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><p>"<em><strong>I've realized that being happy is a choice. You never want to rub anybody the wrong way or not be fun to be around, but you have to be happy. When I get logical and I don't trust my instincts – That's when I get in trouble.<strong>_**"**

**- Angelina Jolie**

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><p>An orange glow started to rise on the horizon, its light stretching to envelop the entire ocean ahead of it.<p>

"Everyone! Wake up! Wake up!" A sharp voice from below rang out. Random distant shouts of a fight like "disgusting face" and "bastard" followed by growling could be heard.

"It's an island!" The voice continued, then a scramble of feet clambering up the deck could be heard as the crew came up to get a view.

"Alright, let's set off then!" A slow calm fell over the ship as the inhabitants left it, leaving behind a single guard after drawing lots.

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><p>"Ahhh I'm hungry." She looked around in disappointment that she was still on a ship. <em>I can't even call this a dream anymore. Being shocked at waking up as a wolf and being on a ship somewhere on an ocean was getting pretty old.<em>

She got up and looked around in surprise, why was the place so windy? She stared at the deck which was 20 meters below and groaned. Why on earth was she there and how on earth did she get up here in the first place! It didn't bother her the last time she woke up but now she realized she had a problem.

She went through her chaotic memories. One moment she woke up on a ship in the middle of an ocean, saw a blue nosed, shape changing reindeer, an over-the-top, gynophobic cook, then finally a normal looking calm woman that reminded her of her grandmother, followed by tasting some heavenly food and taking a nap.

Not to mention waking up to a crazy storm with other crazy people onboard, cheering during and after the storm like it was a funfair.

She paused, why there so many gaps in her memory? The connecting factors to each memory were disjointed.

She summarized the entire experience related to this string of events: _Crazy, illogical and messed up_. She sighed, taking a look at her surroundings, accepting reality as it is: _I guess that's gonna happen on a daily basis here._

Then a childish voice rang out, "Oi everyone, starting from today. I am the great Captain Chopper!" She turned to the voice.

"Hey everyone! Look he-…" The voice was cut off as a ball of fur collided with her face. "Ouch.. What was tha-" The doctor stared at the victim, also his em, crazed patient, "AHHHH! I'M SO SORRY!" he burst out in tears.

Artemis, dazed, mumbled out something like a grunt as she tried to drive the stars in front of her eyes away. "Wait here! I'll get my medical supplies up!" He disappeared down the crow's nest and flung a door open roughly, slamming it close immediately.

_I knew my instinct was right... _Sighing was becoming a habit for her. She got up on all fours when she felt steady and looked down cautiously, checking for other dangerous flying objects.

She took a huge breath to steady her nerves. _Okay, the coast is finally clear. _She kept her tongue fully within her mouth, clamped it shut, and leapt over the railing. _Here goes nothing._

_I'm gonnnaa dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! _She stared wide eyed at the ground rushing up to meet her. Adrenaline and frantic heartbeats coursed through her ears as she fell, prolonging the experience and allowing an inspection of the grains of the wooden flooring below.

A split moment where she imagined herself as a unidentifiable gory splat on the ground came to her. She tensed at the scene and braced herself for the painful impact that was sure to come.

She stretched her two front paws to meet the ground first, slouching a little upon contact to soften the shockwave as it ran up her hands, through her spine and down two feet. She stood, stunned for an entire minute as she ran the moment in her head over and over again.

The landing had felt natural, as though she had been born and moved with all fours throughout her life. _That's in your face, whomsoever that said going by instinct and not logic will bite you in the butt. _

She let out a wolfish smirk at the small victory as she padded over to the source of shouting that could be heard coming from a room nearby, head held high.

"Here you go, you just need some medication over the few days along with plenty of food and rest." She suspiciously stared at the bright coloured pills on the outstretched hooves, sniffing them with her large nose. They smelt like raspberries, ginseng and other herbs. In other words, distasteful.

Seeing that the self-proclaimed blue nosed doctor wouldn't budge until she did as instructed, swallowed them in one gulp and grimaced at the bittersweet and sour taste.

She closed her eyes and waited, sighed internally as her condition didn't worsen several moments later aside from the headache and woozy feeling she had since she awoke.

"Then this is for motion sickness until you get used to being on a ship." More pills appeared before her, swallowing them, she wondered how he knew when she never voiced her discomfort.

This time, she felt a difference, her sea sickness faded away immediately. she stared at doctor with disbelief. _I'm quite sure sea sickness doesn't get cured instantly…_

She continued staring at the reindeer, collecting her thoughts as he started to head out for something. Suddenly, he ran back in a flash and slammed the door, perspiring as he leaned against it. Artemis sat up in shock, catching the sense of emergency and alert for whatever that scared the little creature.

"Her specialty is assassination and her ability is top-notch. We have to be careful of her." He panted out. _We are under attack by a female assassin? What? Why?_

She tensed as she stared at the door, waiting for a deadly attacker. _Wait, if we really are, then why is he not fighting back but continuing on his work and mumbling to himself peacefully…_!

Chopper had calmed down and went to his desk, mixing different herbs and ingredients together, muttering to himself all the while.

"…" Seeing that the reindeer has settled down, Artemis cautiously sat down. _Perhaps he saw an assassin attacking others but weren't heading for us…_

Robin walked into the room silently in the background with a cup, unnoticed by Chopper as he talked about his past. Artemis laid down in a corner to listen, resting her head on her hands as she watched Robin head towards an apparatus with two globe like shapes attached to each other, a handle sticking out of the bottom one.

She started putting something brown inside and filled it with water. A fat bottle shaped object at the bottom produced fire when she turned a knob, boiling the water above it in a container.

_Oooh! They have weird instruments that boil water with fire! _Artemis looked on with interest as Robin placed a cap over the fire outlet, extinguishing it.

"I wonder what's Doctorine doing now…" Chopper sighed, he came out of his day dreaming, sniffing the air.

A gentle and fragrant aroma filled the room from the apparatus, giving a relaxing atmosphere.

"Hmm, so that's a rumble ball?"

"Ahh!" Startled, Chopper jumped into a barrel, peeking out from it, agitated by Robin's sudden presence in the room. "You want to know the secret behind rumble ball to assassinate me? I won't go down that easily!"

Robin stood up, walking over to her glass instruments.

"Rumble! Guard point!" _Crunch_. Chopper changed into a furry and bouncy ball and jumped out_. Hey! He didn't show me that form previously! Tch. How many others does he have up his sleeve?_ Artemis twitched her eyes in annoyance.

"Ouch, it's hot." Her hand retreated from the top of the glass.

"Heavy point!" He grew a large muscular frame, similar to a body builder, with a six pack, slightly ripped arms and fur around his neck and shoulders. Artemis looked on with interesting, scanning this form with appreciation. She is an appreciative female, after all. Her eyes travelled, then stopped suddenly. _Pfft. His nose is still blue, but in a human-reindeer mix way! Also, his pink hat and that burly appearance…! Why didn't I notice this the first time?_ Artemis exploded into laughter inwardly, unwilling to interrupt whatever craze the _doctor_ was in now.

"Jumping point!" His frame shrank to a less bulky form and his limbs stretched, now his fur covered the entire upper body as well as his hands like a short jacket.

He leaped into the air with no apparent destination, crashing into a barrel filled with water, breaking it. Escaped waters flew out of it, knocking over several other empty barrels and Robin's apparatus.

Then, perhaps more confused, Chopper continued, "Horn point!" as the named implied, his horns grew exceedingly long and large as he got on all fours, while his fur now covered his entire upper body, leaving his shoulders bare.

"Behold the powers of the rumble ball! That's not all, I'll find out your weakness."

He minimized himself into his usual small size, putting his hooves together to form a diamond in the middle. "Brain point! Scope!"

He squinted through his hooves, looking at Robin through it. "Weakness, weakness, where's your weakness…"

Robin laughed at his antics and walked over to him. "What's so funny?" Chopper asked cautiously at the approaching figure.

"You don't have to put on such a scary face." Petals flowed across the area and disappeared as two pairs of arms sprouted from Chopper's body.

Artemis grinned at the scene and predictable outcome. _So much for finding out Robin's weakness._

"St-stop it! Bwahahahahahha!" A voice cried out as the two pairs of hands that sprouted from his torso started to tickle him while the other held up his hands, rendering his resistance useless.

"You're cute one", she said after a pause, "I like you.".

Chopper stilled, a blush slowly crept over his face. "C-cute? Stop joking! Being complimented by you doesn't make me happy! How could it make me happy, you idiot!~" The same jingly awkward dance appeared as he tried to brush off the compliment.

"Now then, we should set off now." When Chopper stared back at her with a blank face, she placed an empty barrel into his hands. "Now our water is gone but I would like to have some coffee before reading." She pushed open the door.

Chopper hesitated, unsure of the current situation. "What's wrong, since you're the one who broke the barrel, you should refill it, yes?" The reindeer shuttered, walking out slowly with a barrel twice as large as his current petite form and a slightly furrowed brow at the sudden change of events.

Artemis chuckled as she followed them out to find water.

_**~ To be continued ~**_

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><p><strong>AN: And it ends here for now! I was going to continue but it seemed easier to stop here!<strong>

**It's quite obvious where this occurs already yeah?**

**Thanks for favouriting / following this story! (Sorry if I missed anyone out!)  
><strong>

**Demeter13909**

**Shadow D. Princess**


	11. Devil fruit (Part 1)

**Chp 11 – What will be will be**

**AN: Ready… Go!: Happy new year in advance! **

**Hope you guys are enjoying the holidays! Great time of food, fun and family bonding time eh? Great for you guys! Unfortunately for me, I have a project deadline due right after this week so it's hardly that relaxing… Oh well, I'm taking a short break still! (As you can see by me still writing at this point… XD)**

**Wasn't it said that "it's great to work hard, but to play harder is the key to enjoying life"? No? That's just me? I'll just stamp that with my own name then.**

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><p>Night has fallen and the group led Artemis to a clearing where a large bonfire was held without discussion. It was probably because this crew made a ruckus where ever they went, even before the smoke of the fire was seen, loud voices could be heard quarrelling and laughing from a indisputable direction.<p>

Upon arriving on the clearing, a neatly stacked column of firewood could be seen. It even stood above her height, which was saying something when Artemis was almost 2 meters tall.

The second thing that surprised her was that the source of all that noise she heard half of the island away was actually from just a handful of people, she had expected a group of at least 50 or more people from the effect it gave her eardrums.

In fact, there were only five people! "Ah, they already started without us." Robin voiced while the large wolf beside her continued to stare.

"Woah! A party! Let me join in too!" Chopper ran over and entered the duo of dancing group linking their arms and kicking their legs out without a care in the world, nor how close their backs were to the roaring fire just centimeters behind.

Robin had walked to a corner and stretched out on a beach chair, book in hand. Both objects which were definitely not in sight or reach a moment before.

Artemis shook her head and joined the woman. "This mysterious group of people were seriously..." her muttering was then interrupted by a formally dressed man in black. "Welcome back! Robin-chaawwnn! Artemis-chawwwn!"

Artemis's stomach curled at the endearing greeting from the man, making a mental note to plead with Chopper to stop him from the ridiculous name calling.

"The food will be done in a moment! Please wait just a moment longer!" The man continued obliviously.

"Hurry up with your shitty food and stop womanizing you crappy cook."

The voice came from a man dressed in a plain white shirt, green checkered cloth thickly wrapped around his waist, with black pants tucked into similarly black boots, he chugged down another mug of beverage, and evidence of his love for the drink surrounded him as barrels littered the ground around him. Three prominent swords with obvious difference in origins and make were tucked in his belt, his occupation now un-mistakenable.

"You can eat the moss growing on your own head you shitty marimo!" "What did you say?!" Both men banged their foreheads together, hurling insults at each other at close distance.

The dancing group then broke into more merry making at the sight, cheering them on. Artemis twitched, 'This group of people really...' she sighed, then an unknown emotion washed over her, turning her lips into a frown.

"Cut it out you guys! And hurry up with the food Sanji! I'm starving here!"

"Tsk, bossy woman."

"Sure thing, Nami-swaann!"

Just like that, as suddenly as it occurred, the fight broke up.

"..."

"These guys are cheerful aren't they?" Robin smirked beside a wolf with her mouth agape. 'Just get used to it. Just get used to it.' Artemis filed a strong mental note away.

"Alright guys, the log pose seems to be settling down soon, we'll probably be able to set off by tonight so gather here before the sun sets!"

"Since there probably isn't anyone else here on the island, we can just take it easy for the day. Zoro and Sanji, take care of the ship while I do some touching up on my maps. Chopper, I'll leave the newcomer to you."

Nami started to disembark the ship but turned around suddenly, "Luffy, you better not bring anything weird aboard the ship, you hear me?" Punctuating her sentence with a glare, she stomped off.

The moment Nami turned around, Luffy took off as well, jumping off the ship without a care in the world, shouting about defeating the king of the island.

Chopper, Robin and Artemis were left standing on the deck as the others dispersed.

'A free and easy huh… What else could I do while being stuck here and like this…' Artemis glanced at the doctor on her left, wondering if he had any plans. She bit her lip, or tried to anyway, before realizing that she could only open and close her mouth in vain since her lips could only curl outwards.

Chopper jumped at the sudden snap of jaws beside him, "Eh? What?"

The wolf started to let out a sigh as he continued, "Oh yeah Miss Artemis I was thinking we could perhaps do a full checkup regarding your condition, since you seem to be suffering from memory and speech loss… A normal human/animal devil fruit user ought to be able to communicate with both."

He held up his tiny hooves to his lips, frowning in concentration, "Can you change your form to human?"

"I can?! I'm not stuck like this forever?"

"Well- yeah, if you were a human that ate a devil fruit, turning into your current form… Of course you can turn back."

"Really? Tell me how!"

"Even if you say that, I can't exactly tell you how, it's something like an instinct. It's different for everyone."

"No way… I don't even know how I got into this state!"

"Hmm, Try focusing your thoughts on your human appearance, then visualize it firmly then… Feel yourself in your old body I guess? Zoan-type shape changes are mostly based on feelings."

The wolf closed her eyes, digging her claws into the ground in an effort to focus.

"Hrrghhh!"

"Human, human, human, human, human, HUMAN!" She tried to force her body to comply with her wishes.

Her ears trembled against the back of her head.

Her body vibrated and shook.

_**~ To be continued ~**_

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><p><strong>AN: Once again, Merry Christmas to everyone too! Treasure these rest days for they are few and far between! Treasure your loved ones for they are too, few and not always within reach!<strong>

**Thanks for favouriting / following this story!** **It's always a great encouragement to see that there are people following the story.**

Nyx811

SakuraDagger15

JillxX

NinjaGirl9797


	12. Devil fruit (Part 2)

**Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. **  
><strong>- C. S. Lewis<strong>

**Edit: Briefly fixed tiny errors. Content unchanged.**

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><p>"CHANGE BACK!"<p>

She squeezed her eyes shut as she willed her body to shapeshift.

Her back suddenly began to vibrate, throbbing in time with her heartbeat rhythmically at first, then increase steadily with speed, as a burning sensation spread through her body. Her bones shifted and contracted, reshuffling and shrinking towards the center of her body.

A surprisingly short figure of beauty appeared in place of the large white wolf in front of the pair of reindeer and raven haired woman, who turned speechless at the change.

* * *

><p>Of course, such a wonderful and positive scenario for Artemis never would occur.<p>

Instead, anti-climatically, nothing happened.

"…" Everyone remained speechless, though with very different reasons.

"Didn't you say that I could change back?" Artemis angrily glared at the doctor.

"Eh, b-but Zoan-type devil fruit users really can transform their shape at will, look at me!" He demonstrated with his various transformations.

"That would be true if Miss Wolf here indeed ate a Zoan-type devil fruit and did not simply lose her memories of originally being a wolf, Mr Doctor." The archaeologist provided her logical reasoning. "Perhaps she simply remembered being fed a rarely seen fruit from a human, mistakening it as a devil fruit."

"Come on! I would know my own species even if I lost my memories! Besides, if I were really a wolf, would one readily accept weird looking fruits from strangers?" Artemis argued, not mentioning a thought that came to her the moment she closed her mouth. _Well, I actually did, though it was as a human and I was starving at the point of time… Ahem, well that's was not the point._

"Well, perhaps you lost the transformation ability when you lost your memories as an effect."

"THEN-"

"Of course, that doesn't mean the ability is gone. A devil fruit's powers aren't that easy to get rid of, its probably just lying in your subconsciousness." Chopper quickly interjected as the wolf started to get increasingly agitated.

The three became silent, thinking hard for a solution.

_Awakening inactive parts of the brain in a short period of time would most likely have to involve or include strong stimulation factors like strong emotions, memories or instincts._

"Perhaps we should try stimulating the brain to with situations that would cause strong emotions, since she suffered memory loss; we could try to awaken her memories by stimulating the memory portion of the brain."

As scientifically logical as it sounded, it also increased a sense of dread within Artemis, whom shook her head violently.

"Robin, that's correct but the way you said it is scary!" The doctor hesitatingly agreed.

"Well, then perhaps awakening her instincts through self preservation or a sense of danger would help. The adrenaline would aid in overcoming barriers and limitations in one's ability."

"Wait a minute, danger? No one said anything about-" Her instincts were right, she _was_ going to suggest something dreadful.

"The easiest way would be to throw a devil fruit user overboard, drowning is quite an experience with a certain duration for preservation instincts. But it wouldn't be effective considering that none of us here could rescue her." Robin nonchalantly continued her train of thought.

Chopper caught on, "Well, Luffy did say the monsters on the island weren't very strong so perhaps we could start with those… We have a doctor here so it's okay!"

"IT'S NOT! Listen up when people are trying to talk here!" Artemis howled, panting from the exertion, giving both of them the evil eye.

The doctor suddenly smiled, "It was just a joke, come on Artemis, relax! We'll surely find a way to help you change back. Right, Robin?"

The woman maintained her mysterious smile, giving nothing away about her thoughts on the subject.

The troubled wolf laid down, sighing, "Isn't there anything that can help, other than stimulating it at the expense of my safety or life?" She highly doubted she could 'defeat' any monsters, wolf or not, plus, she wasn't sure she was accustomed to her current limbs yet.

"Wait a minute, you said something about devil fruit users not being able to swim right? How about soaking a limb or two?"

"Well, you wouldn't be affected by the sea water until you reach a certain exposure level. Then you start to feel weak and lose strength, how much exposure though, should depend on each person…" Chopper ended hesitatingly, looking towards Robin.

"Well, one way to find out." Hopping off the stern gently, she slowly walked into the lapping waves by the shore.

The two others onboard looked on fascinated, as the water level slowly rose from her feet. She started to stagger after it passed her knees, retreating slightly the limit of exposure to sea water her body could accept. "It looks like this is it."

Curiosity piqued, both Chopper and Artemis landed on the shore and started to do the same. In his human form, he waded almost waist deep before it affected him. "Looking at the results, perhaps the exposure depends on the total surface area of-" Robin turned around, stunned as she turned around to face the results of the last experiment.

The white wolf which was larger than the two of them was theoretically expected to be able to be further considering that the reindeer was only a foot from Robin, however, a carefree spirit had began dog paddling about in the water, mostly submerged in the sea except for her head and top of her back.

The object of attention continued carefreely, "Hey the water feels great! So this is how swimming in the sea feels! Is this how wolves swim?"

"Now we _really_ doubt if you really eaten a devil fruit… It's impossible for devil fruit users to swim! You really did lose all your memories of being an animal didn't you?" Chopper shouted in mild annoyance.

Robin tilted her head in puzzlement instead, advising Artemis to try diving into the water to test her limits instead.

Doubtful but willing, the wolf took a deep breath before plunging into the salty water. The two spectators watched the figure check its surroundings before heading off to a coral reef without a thought, leaving behind a trail of bubbles. However, upon reaching vicinity, she stopped and slowly sank to the sea bed, as tiny air bubbles continued to rise.

They started to panic as moments continued to pass without reaction from the wolf, she should have started coming up for air, the both of them being dead weights in the sea did not help the situation

They shouted for her attention but to no avail, coming to the worst conclusion that her devil fruit's weakness to the sea had struck at the worst possible moment to manifest itself, yet the both of them could not swim to save her life.

Thinking quickly, Chopper ran ashore and transformed into Jumping Point, leapt onto the ship in search for something to pull her up, while Robin repeatedly tried to call her to consciousness as she calculated her distance from the surface. Knowing that simply extending her arms wouldn't reach; she broke off a long branch, passing it to her sprouted arms on the hull in an attempt to push her nearer to the shore. However, due to the depth the wolf sank to with her weakness to the sea, she was unable to extend her arms and reach her despite the clear visibility and simplicity.

Desperate, she used her ability to scout for any nearby crew members for help, finding the swordsman she quickly guided him with an array of hands and mouths while explaining the situation.

"Oi, you alive?" A green haired man bent down on the animal he just lugged out onto the shore. "She wouldn't hear you! She's been in the water unconscious for minutes already! Ahh she already drank in so much water!" A panicking doctor flurried about with his patient, checking her vitals and massaged the wolf, pumping water out.

Several minutes later, Artemis jolted awake, coughing and spluttering, taking in deep breaths. Sighs of relief came from everyone as she blearily opened her eyes, to see a rough face with sharp eyes frowning down at her, highlighted by bright green hair.

Recognition flooded through her, "Uncle He-…?" She weakly groaned and fainted once again.

Confusion spread as Chopper translated for them. "You have a niece?"

"Dunno. Haven't seen this _wolf_ before, you said she's a girl who ate a devil fruit?"

"Yeah, let's ask her after she wakes, meanwhile could you help me carry her to the infirmary?"

Zoro grunted in reply, lugging the body over his shoulder

**_~ To be continued ~_**

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><p><strong>AN: This chapter was so horribly delayed I am unable to express my sorrowregret/embarrassment/sadness/apologies..**

**Well, I was actually trying to finalize the backstory for the entire plot and history for one of the uhh, main side character(?). I guess I got sidetracked and ended up with a plot with even more structured details than the current actual storyline -_-;. So much so that I think I could write another fic from it, perhaps I'll start when that OC appears. Ahh, playing with that OC was so much fun.**

**Thanks for favouriting / following this story!** **It's ****REALLY ****a great encouragement to see that there are people following the story…**

UNICORNSPOORAINBOWS

SakuraDagger15

Nyx811

FREAKYFOSTER

Niie-pyon

Arashi Fan no Ryu to Hyou

'**Cos I immediately (and finally) got my lazy butt up to start writing this chapter upon seeing new reviews and favourites/follows! Heheh they're like energy bars!~)**

**To SakuraDagger15: Hohoho of course I need to leave you in suspense! How else will I still get you guys to continue reading with my horrendous procrastination intervals? :P**

**To ****UNICORNSPOORAINBOWS: Firstly.. Nice name lol. Ye~ep Chopper's awesome for his unique moments! I look forward to imagining and writing them!**

**To Nyx811: Thanks! I'll try to update ASAP! T-T Sorry for the long delays!**

**To ****Arashi Fan no Ryu to Hyou: ! AN ARASHI FAN!? Who's your bias!**


	13. Awakening (Part 1)

**AN: I have no excuses this time… This chapter was supposed to be up before my 3 weeks of Japan trip, but then I couldn't complete it in time! . (I really wanted to post a chapter before I went at least! T-T**

**So, yeah, now I'm back from Japan! (Man do I miss that place…) I hope you guys haven't forgotten/given up on the story yet!**

* * *

><p><strong>I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. –Michael Jordan<strong>

*****_**Warning**_**: mild **_**gore**_** and **_**violence**_** in the middle!***

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><p>"You have a niece?" Chopper exclaimed in surprise.<p>

_Niece...?_ The word echoed in her mind.

_Niece..._

"Dude, that cute little girl who always comes by here is your niece right?" A tanned man in his late 30s spoke between breaths as he continued jogging on the treadmill.

"Heh, you only ask because you wanted me to introduce her relatives to you, right? No." Henderson leaned casually on the top of the console, subtly changing the incline and speed.

"Aww man, don't say it that way" *Huff* *Huff*The jogger started to take in larger gulps of air.

"It's just about..." *Huff* "... getting to know more people, it doesn't hurt."

"Besides, they could get to know a nice, handsome guy like me." The jogger attempted to strike a pose with the upper half of the body while running.

Henderson scoffed in reply, continuing his tempering as the jogger's attention was distracted by conversation.

"I'm not little anymore! And Uncle Henderson is muu~ch more handsome than you!" A little girl appeared beside Henderson, tackling and hugging his leg tightly while pouting and sticking out her tongue at the jogging man.

"Ouch, so young and already so sharp with your words." The jogger hopped off the treadmill, switching from sweaty to hurt and puppy eyes mode all of a sudden, recovering from exhaustion in the blink of an eye, kneeling in front of the little girl's with a wide smile. "Could you forgive me, pretty please?"

"Heehee, well if you put it that way... I want a performance like the ones you always do on stage!" Her eyes sparkled expectantly.

"Of course!" The man replied eagerly.

_Tch_. "You better not feed her with the crap you perform with you pathetic cook, you're gonna pay for the medical bills." Henderson shivered as he recalled the memory when he tasted a sample of his cooking ages ago, it had deceivingly looked delicious until he had put it in his mouth before the cook could stop him.

It was the first and last time he ate anything made by that guy.

"I know already, sheesh. Give the poor guy that can only make inedible, yet heavenly looking food a break! I still use my skills for making a living you know." A curly eyebrow twitched in annoyance, cursing whatever cooking god that put such a dark talent on him.

"Make a living, my ass! You almost killed me that day!" Henderson scowled in anger at the memory.

"Huh? You were the one that didn't listen to my warning!" He leaned forward in irritation, pushing his guilt down upon provocation.

"You could have said it before placing the plate in front of me! You were clearly plotting to poison me with your cooking!"He leaned forward as well, until they were both butting heads with each other as they shouted.

"If I wanted to kill you I wouldn't have to use my precious cooking, I would have simply stabbed you with one of my many knives, you idiot!" He roughly grabbed the cheeks of the trainer, squishing them together with a single hand.

"Humph, you could try it if you like, only weak people need weapons to fight." Slapping the insulting hand away and taking a step back, gauging his opponent's reaction.

"Huh? What, you're provoking me to a bare handed vs knives fight?" His right eye narrowed dangerously. Putting his hands into his sweat pants pockets, even his mysteriously hidden left eye seemed to radiate some anger.

"I'll cut you up into pieces so tiny, no one will even be able to identify you!"

"I dare you to try."

"Sheesh, how old are the two of you already? Stop fighting over everything everywhere!" The little girl cut in before the bickering became a reality.

Reminded by their surroundings and growing audience, the two reluctantly backed off, refusing to look at each other.

Returning to the main point, the little girl looked up with tear-filled eyes, "You mean those heavenly looking food can't be eaten?"

"... There is a reason why my appearances are mostly being a critic and whipping out food without tasters." The man sighed at the disappointed look in her eyes.

"But you were awesome when on TV! No one could out talk you or make food that looks more beautiful!"

He straightened and puffed out his chest, "Well, I am a pursuer of all things beautiful after all."

"So, that's why I could perform my cooking for you but never let you touch them. If you keep to that promise I'll gladly do it anytime for you, deal?"

The little girl pouted, but nodded her head.

* * *

><p>A whistling sound approached the ship, followed by a sudden explosion that rocked it.<p>

A voice called out orders immediately following the impact, "Enemy attack from 5 o'clock! Everyone, come to the deck! Ussop, get the cannons and return fire!"

"Yahoo! It's an enemy ship! Let's go!" A reckless male voice called out.

"Ara, that sounded like cannon fire. Let's hope it wouldn't hit anything important."

"Would you stop sounding so negative about everything?" Turning to the doctor beside his patient, "Chopper, we're going out the join the fight, we'll leave her to you."

He glared at the long haired woman, daring her to say otherwise. He still didn't trust her onboard, especially indoors when there's a fight raging outside with an unconscious patient and small doctor. Ussop would have escaped immediately at the smallest sign of danger but Chopper was more prone to being deceived. The unconscious girl they picked up... Well she almost got killed by her anyway, besides, she isn't a part of the crew.

As though she heard her name in his thoughts, she stirred as he was about to get up. Recognizing his scent and figure, she blearily tried to make contact but was avoided by Zoro as he got up. Letting out a soft sad whine, she looked up at his figure.

He hesitated for a moment, unsure why he felt a small pang of guilt at the reaction then gave up and grunted as he roughly let his hand come in contact with Artemis's head before swiftly leaving the room, his sheathed swords rattling against each other.

She stared in surprise at the swords on his belt as she shook her head as her attempt to speak failed, trying to compare the man in front of her with the one she just saw in her memories. _He would have recognized her if it was him, but he would never carry weapons, not to mention, swords around..._

Robin smiled faintly at her before following after Zoro, "I'll apologize properly afterwards for my rash experiment, rest up well."

As the door clicked shut, Chopper bombarded her with questions regarding her condition, checking up on her health.

"I heard something about an enemy attack... Who's the enemy and why are they attacking you?" The sounds of battle had been especially clear when the door swung open as the two exited.

"Well, they're probably a bunch of pirates, attacking weaker looking vessels hoping to rob them or something. We're good guys though!" Chopper struck a pose with his eyes shinning brightly.

"Muahhaha! That's true, since you guys just picked me up and saved me several times. I mistook you guys for kidnappers or bad guys at first!" The doctor laughed along weakly as he recalled the scene where Luffy first picked her up along the shore as food.

A sword suddenly thrust halfway through the door broke the cheerful atmosphere, the blade glinted dully with rust and suspicious splotches of dark brown liquid.

"... Maybe you should go help them..." A tinge of fear entered her voice as she continued staring at the half of the sword sticking out of the door.

Chopper frowned in thought, deciding to only take a peek at the situation and perhaps treat some of the seriously wounded enemies, since the crew would definitely be fine considering the difference in strength judging from the panicked cries of the enemies.

"Alright. Stay here while I go take a look." He took his kit with him as he stepped out, only to get knocked flying by another flying body passing by the entrance.

"!" Artemis rushed to the doorway, this time carefully checking the surroundings before sticking her head out.

"I'm so sorry, dearest Artemis are you alright?" Sanji cried out, immediately concerned.

She sweat dropped, shouldn't he be more concerned about the crew member he just sent flying?

The reindeer doctor suddenly stood up and roared, flinging the body atop him flying as he changed to _Heavy_ _Point_ and grew man-sized. "That hurt!" Comrades of the unfortunate man who stopped to gawk at the sudden change soon felt for themselves why his form was named thus.

Chopper, completely forgetting his main goal, had charged into the fight.

_Phew he's alright, wow, it looks like it didn't affect him at all!_ Artemis thought in admiration. _Was that the power of a devil fruit?_ Just as she weighing the options of hiding and observing until the battle was over or to try out her own potential abilities with a small fry or two, her decision was decided for her.

Although she didn't get knocked off her feet like Chopper did when he stepped out, she hadn't paid attention to the ground and tripped over a certain dead weight instead.

Due to her wolf form, the fall was easy to break, however, the sight that greeted her was hardly pleasant. Her leading paw caught herself on top others very object that caused her fall, causing need to face a gory scene of a forcibly opened torso with a large gash from hip to shoulder. The wound seemed to be further worsened by an impact right at the center, forcing some unidentifiable innards of the body to be exposed.

With her improved sense of sight and smell, the overwhelming scene inches away from her caused her brain to shut down and her stomach to churn mightily.

*Da-dum* The sound of her heart beat suddenly echoed loudly in her ears.

_Ah… Blood.. This man is injured… Chopper should treat him, where's Chopper?_

Her vision suddenly clouded over as she tried to scan the chaotic battlefield for the doctor.

*Da-dum* *Da-dum* *Da-dum*

_If he doesn't get help soon he'll…_

*Da-dum* *Da-dum*

The distant voice of Sanji apologizing could barely be heard in the background as he kicked the body over the railing, followed by a soft splash overboard.

_Chopper! Where are you?_

*Da-dum*

She continued staring into the empty space left from the scene in her mind, replaced by a thick pool of dark, red blood.

_CHOPPER!_

-…-

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><p>White noise filled her head, blocking out all sounds, a particularly uncomfortable scent of thick saltiness assaulted her senses, making her head throb increasingly with her heartbeat. As tightly as she closed her eyes, she couldn't shut out a spinning wheel of flashing colours that appeared in her mind.<p>

Bright purple, white, blue and yellow lights constantly assaulted her mind. _Arghhh! Stop it!_

They appeared like spots, flashlights flickering erratically one after another without order, leaving behind pulsing after images.

_STOP!_

*Duu-dum*… The attacks finally ceased. She let out a sigh as she let blissful, cooling darkness envelop her.

_Hah, an easy prey! Zoning out on a battlefield like this…_

A crouched form stealthily approached a wolf from behind as it swayed lightly from side to side.

_Today must be my lucky day, just the size of the head of that wolf will give me a trophy that would make me a hero when I return._

He was just two meters away from the figure as he lifted his rusty axe overhead, bloodied from numerous victims, for the kill.

He tiptoed even more carefully, now that the distance was only one and a half meters, he wanted to cleanly sever the head of silvery soft fur in one swing. The lesser damage the headpiece received, the higher the admiration was of the hunter for his proficient kill.

However, that mentality had worked against him as the shadow cast by his silhouette, lengthened by the raising of his weapon, touched the figure of the wolf.

The tiniest change of temperature caused had served as a stimulus for the beast to focus; coupled with malicious intent, it immediately identified the subject behind to be a threat and acted accordingly.

Its eyes opened with a flash of violet and narrowed. An axe aimed for the back of them swung loosely at the disappearance of its intended target, throwing the owner off-balance unexpectedly.

A wild forest of silver that enclosed two ominously glowing orbs suddenly moved towards him beside the path of his swing instead.

_What? I would have sworn it was right-_

The train of thought was never finished as his attention was jerked down towards the floor planks, right at an open set of jaws containing very sharp teeth and a deep, red throat.

A savage twist and dull thud moments later, a lifeless body dropped to the floor, contributing to the original lake of blood and body.

An equally red tongue licked its lips from side to side, capturing warm blood that had been freed during its attack.

A large snout lifted to the air, twitching as it recognized the old smells of battle and blood, calmly them mapping the scene out with its new inventory of familiar scents to distinguish the enemy from. There were seven a midst fourty hostiles, not counting those that were already out for the count, three whom were more heavily surrounded.

Deciding to head towards the most crowded and untouched area of enemy territory, sharp claws tore towards that direction, not hesitant in using any object as a foothold and stepping board, including distracted heads and bodies of enemy pirates.

Finding the thickest crowd of men whom waiting to board the small ship or fight the three men aboard their ship for some action, the wolf brought it to them instead.

Crashing into and biting down on the shoulder of the first, cries of alarm came from the surrounding men as they identified the wild object among them.

Blades and axes started swinging in savage arcs as the men closed in, eager to trap their opponent and get a strike in.

Before the circle could completely close, the wolf had flung itself at the opening, bowling the unprepared men over and knocking back those behind.

Deadly teeth and claws danced as the owner flew from enemy to enemy, never sparing more than a moment to inflict damage at each target. Whether lethal or not, each contact drew blood or sent bodies crashing into another.

It didn't matter how many attacks were headed in its direction or the number of injuries that were starting to accumulate despite it's speed. The only that that mattered was the number of enemies left standing in its range.

_**~ To be continued ~**_

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for followingreviewing! Its always encouraging! And goodness knows the amount of encouragement I need -.-**

**(I hope I didn't miss out anyone... Sorry if I did!)**

**UNKOWN13**

**vaskeemi**

**Cutie Kyuubi**

**lonelydream17**

**ROBOTUNICORNZ**

**Akatsuki Yozora**


	14. Awakening (Part 2)

"**Educating yourself does not mean that you were stupid in the first place; it means that you are intelligent enough to know that there is plenty left to learn." – Melanie Joy**

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><p>Soon enough, the grunts in the immediate area were no longer standing. The greedy eyes of violet started scanning the surroundings for more prey again.<p>

Seeing that there were none in the vicinity left standing except for a single man that was overlooking the battle from the prow, the wolf grinned. He was built more heavily than the others, emphasized by a thick captain coat hanging off his shoulders and exposed biceps that bulged.

Taking off after the prey immediately, it bit into the shoulder of the man, eliciting a loud exclamation from the victim and one other voice from behind.

"Oi! Why did you snatch my prey for? You stupid wolf!" Tensing, it spun around quickly face to face with a scrawny kid with a straw hat.

Violent eyes stared down the kid at shoulder height, although he was a head shorter and showed almost no visible physical poweress, an aura of danger emanated from his body.

The wolf growled, sensing hostility and anger from the boy. Taking the growl as provocation, he readily shot out his arm as it stretched out as a long distance punch.

Ducking beneath the punch, he dodged a sword swipe from the bleeding captain and proceeded to headbutt the hinderance. Distracted by a split second, the wolf barely dodged the next few punches, increasing in speed. Unable to approach the attacker, it leapt around the place, dodging behind crates and jumping off surfaces. Throwing and kicking random articles back in the direction of those flying arms instead, splinters and debris flew through the air in all directions of their paths.

They stood across each other on an open area of the boat, their fight had gone two full circles and caused much more damage to the enemy ship instead of each other. In fact, neither of them had actual injuries to prove, only the rivers of sweat and dust on them indicated their past activity. They glared as each other, waiting to see who would make the first move as they panted and tried to recover their breaths.

"Would you both stop ignoring me!"

The aggravated man had recovered during the long exchange of destruction on his property to sneak out a gun, pointed and shot at the straw hat boy while drawing out his saber with the other towards the wolf.

The gunshot rang out. "Why you..." The same exact words were spoken from both opponents as they charged as one towards him.

The wolf widened its eyes as it caught an incredible scene from the edge of its vision; the bullet stretched its flight through the boy's skin by a good two meters then, losing its velocity, sprang back out in the opposite way twice as fast without resistance.

The victim never stood a chance; the rubber man reflected his shot while punching his stomach in as the wolf leapt forward and twisted his neck at the same moment.

"Shut up and stop interfering!" They ended their attacks on the same line as well.

Relief and adrenaline filled the both of them after a landing successful attack after a long cat and mouse race. Their grins lowered when they stared at each other, standing no more than two meters apart.

"..." Now that the wolf has calmed down from its bloodlust and saving its own hide, it had noticed that the boy standing in front of him had a familiar scent. Not to mention that the ability of arm stretching seemed to click something in its memories

The smell of rubber! That kid was the Alpha here!** (*)**

The wolf inwardly groaned for making such a basic mistake. It had only ascertained their starting positions and forgot to check regularly. It also didn't help that it had attacked him the first time they met.

Deciding on a best course of action, the wolf started to provoke the young teen again. Finally glad that he would have a proper fight without the chasing, the scrawny kid let out a grin and stretched his dominant arm far out in the opposite direction for one of his favourite moves.

"Gomu gomu no-" He drew in his breath as he timed his attack with its name. The large wolf stood bristling with a wide stance as it waited for the strike.

"-PISTOL!" His arm snapped forward in a snap as elasticity and muscle coordinated to throw as much power and speed as they could together at the tip of his fist.

The strawhat tensed as he prepared himself for a counterattack from the waiting opponent, snapping his hand back in a ready pose, barely registering that the obvious and direct frontal attack was actually successful and taken on fully by the recipient.

The wolf gritted its teeth as the punch shot cleanly to its chest, knocking almost all its breath out had it not been bracing itself, it refused to cry out as the impact forced it to be pushed backwards by at least fifteen meters, almost the other end of the boat, despite crouching and digging its claws into the wood. Needless to say, the amount of pain was proportionate to the impact, it felt like a rough drill had went through its center and dug a hole through its rib.

After taking several deep breaths to compose itself as the boy stood stunned, it slowly padded its way over. Snapped out of the shock with the wolf approaching, he decided to brace itself to be hit cleanly with one of its attacks as well, which would only be fair.

However, when the wolf have arrived a hand away in front of him, it merely looked into his eyes and sat down. Then hesitantly licked him at the side of his jaw before resuming aforementioned position.

"Huh?" The boy sank into further confusion, crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side.

He tried to piece its actions together, hitting his fist on his palm together, he shouted out "Oh I got it! You wanted to apologize!"

"You're a good guy after all!" Grinning immediately, He patted the top of its white fluffy head. It let out a deep breath as let out a wolfy grin. All's well that ends well.

* * *

><p>"No, Luffy!" Nami said firmly, her stance firm with her hands on her hips.<p>

"Eeeeeeeeh~ Why~" The boy with a straw hat known as Luffy pouted. His frown extremely large as his face stretched and skin sagged on either side of his chin.

"He's onboard already! It's not like he has anywhere he can go anyway!" He logically reasoned.

"Says the person who practically kidnapped it in the first place! It probably has a family to return to right?" She looked over to the subject in particular.

The wolf shook its head.

"... It probably has a home to return to as well." Ignoring the failed attempt.

It stonily repeated the action.

"Or somewhere to go to..." It tilted its head, then resumed its previous posture.

"Arghh! Chopper, what is it saying?" Nami gave up, pulling at her hair.

Chopper trotted over and stared at the wolf.

It stared back.

"..."

Chopper tilted its head.

It mimicked the action.

Nami, fed up with the queer exchange, cried out "Well?".

"But it's not saying anything at all." Chopper shrugged, he had been listening on the entire monologue, the wolf simply wasn't speaking in the first place.

"See! He wants to stay!" Luffy took the silence as affirmation and ran around cheering.

Nami threw her hands up, walking away, "It's only staying until we reach the next island! We can't keep on adopting any animal you pick up!"

She spun around suddenly with a stern look. "You better take responsibility for it while it's here!" There wasn't anywhere for them to leave the wolf at sea anyway.

"So that's that! I'm Luffy, nice to meet ya!" The strawhat grinned.

Seeing that he was no longer needed, Chopper headed to check on the condition of the others, the wolf had looked the bloodiest at first as the white coat contrasted greatly against blood. Chopper had been frantic to find the source of the wound, blaming himself for not protecting his patient until he realized that none of it belonged to the owner. Exasperated, he gave it a quick spray down to wash off the blood instead.

The enemy ship had stayed in its original position with the deck filled with its battered crew, it wasn't sailing anyway with only patches of cloth left of its sails, masts torn apart, and the main mast hanging off the railing, in fact, it was a miracle that it was still afloat.

The crew had unceremoniously thrown any bodies back to the ship after looting it, surprised to actually find some valuables despite its less-than-capable crew.

* * *

><p>"Hey Luffy, are you really sure about letting that wolf stay? It looks kinda dange- doesn't look very safe to me." Brocolli-hair gulped mid sentence as the subject in mention turned its attention at the mention of it.<p>

"Don't worry Ussop! It's a good wolf!" Straw hat boy walked over and patted its head. "See?"

The sniper was completely unconvinced as it playfully_ bit _Luffy's hand after the third pat, then gasped as it flipped him on his back, using him as a cushion and licking him all over.

He giggled carefreely, yelling that it was ticklish.

Ussop ran to the nearest corner and hid instead, chanting something about sharp fangs and wolves in fear.

The wolf observed the environment carefully, noting the smoky smelling brocolli-hair, immediately as the Omega and the tangerine smelling and orange-haired female, as Beta. Or perhaps it was the steel smelling green-haired male whom has been keeping an eye on her instead. It took care to associating their smells with their ranks.

He was an odd human, who was using his limbs to paw around strange metal things and shook them up and down slowly, expending his energy for no apparent reason. Perhaps humans enjoy activities as play...

It walked to the edge of the boat instead, seeing the form-shifting reindeer holding a wooden branch out above the water, sitting patiently while waving his small hooves about. Calling a greeting as it sat down beside, it asked what he was doing.

"I'm fishing! I hope I can get a big one for dinner tonight!" The blue-nosed reindeer smiled cheerfully while hum a tune. The wolf wondered at the strange ways of the reindeer copying humans, since when did reindeers eat fish? Weren't they herbivores?

The thought was interrupted by a tugging on the rod, getting up excitedly, the reindeer strained backwards to pull it in. The wolf stood by attentively as to watch the fishing technique only humans have performed.

"Wooah! It's gonna be a big one!" He tugged on the rod furiously.

"Woah! Do your best Chopper! Our dinner is riding on you!" The Alpha nearer and started jumping up and down in early celebration.

Bracing himself against the railings and with a large heave, the reindeer lifted out a large object out of the water.

The object that sprang out, was one of the strangest sea monsters the wolf has ever seen.

"AHHH! IT'S HUGE!" Ussop cried out.

"WOOAAAHH! HUGE!" The same yet opposing reaction came from the reindeer and Luffy shouted with stars in their eyes.

A thirty meters tall cross of a dog and fish in blinding pink flew towards them. With scales covering its entire body, paws and tail, it loosened its jaws, intending to swallow up the small humans that fished it up.

"Here it comes!" Luffy laughed carefreely as he stood holding his hat with his right hand and his hip with his left. Just as it looked as if he was about to be fish food, its body suddenly split into pieces, falling into blocks of flesh of 30cm each.

The wolf blinked in surprise at the sudden turn of events, looking at the swordsman behind the rain of food sheathing his sword slowly with a soft click.

"Oi, stupid cook, dinner's here." He laid down against the wall, resuming his previous sleeping position.

"Sanji! Food!" Luffy rushed about, collecting the pieces of meat while rushing into the kitchen.

"Ho? You guys finally caught something? Bring it here!" A masculine voice called out. "Alright, we're having fish steamboat today!"

"Hooray!" Cheers broke out from the boys.

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><p>"Artemis my lovely damsel, are the food to your liking?" Sanji slurred slowly, interlocking his fingers while wiggling his body diagonally.<p>

The wolf paused, turned to the right to see Luffy devouring nearby food and started eating as well, crudely sank fangs into the meat spread out in front of it at a speed almost similar.

Not a minute has passed when half of the dinning table was already empty on Luffy's side of the table. He automatically continued invading the remaining areas while having a running commentary on how good the food was. With a stretch of hand, he pulled out a large piece of steak from under the wolf's teeth and swallowed it whole, hardly chewing

It let out an angry growl while Sanji yelled at the unrepentant thief at the same time. It then doubled its current pace and finished the remaining food on the table before Sanji finished his sentence.

A moment of stunned silence hung in the air before being broken by a yell. "OI! I WAS GOING TO EAT THOSE." The unrepentant rubberman was mercilessly hit by the chef, "YOU ATE MOST OF THE FOOD ALREADY!" while continuing his rant about his eating disorder and manners towards ladies.

The long speech was unfortunately ignored as sparks flew between the culprit and victim, only broken when Luffy decided that Sanji ought to cook more food for the crew (him) and started arguing.

A sigh was heard in the background as the orange haired navigator shook her head, dreadfully recalculating the amount of provisions left and their budget

Shuddering and frightened murmuring could be heard from across her as Ussop pulled on his olive bandanna as he contemplated his cruel fate on starving to death amidst crewmates while beside him, Robin let out a soft laugh, "Ufufufu, it sure is interesting on this ship."

**~ To Be Continued ~**

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><p><strong>AN: This chapter was mostly written with the wolf's POV, as you guys might have found out through the odd phrasing of various stuff and events! As the wolf persona is separate from Artemis, not all their experiences are shared between them, thus their attitudes as well. (It will only be revealed much later why.)<strong>

**(*)Note & some trivia: The Alpha is the leader of a pack and the Omega is the lowest in pecking order. In wolf hierarchy, the Omega also has to be the submissive to the rest of the pack and the 'emotional stabilizer' for them. It is also an important role in maintaining the tension/mood of the pack. (He may not be the weakest in strength or size, just as the Alpha may not be the strongest or biggest though that is usually the case.)**

**Thank you for all you readers who have continued following this story and reviewed! I really am grateful for your patience with the story! (m-_-m)**

**To Nyx811: Thanks for your continued support! Glad you're still reading this! :D**

**To ****Chieko Namikaze: Thanks for following! I think ZoRo is the best non-OOC pairing too! I mean come on, look at the pairing name, it totally ****fits already. Besides, who else could tolerat-**_**ahem **_**suit Zoro more?**

**To UNICORNSPOORAINBOWS: Arhwooo! Thanks! Awww that's cool! Do you have a picture? I want one but I got enough on my hands keeping myself alive now. (Laughs) Maybe I'll be able to in the future...**

**PS: Does your name equate to unicorns pooing on rainbows? O_O**

**To Shiranai Atsune: Thanks for following!**


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